Customer Reviews

Painting Light & Shade (Quarto Book)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really appreciate this book, it deserves %100 of the money I gave for it. First of all, it gives out very much about the key points of ligth and shade in the context of watercolour. Additionally, I liked the way the author show the techniques and the demonstrations. They are really detailed, may be one of the most detailed, I have ever seen in a watercolor book. Most of all, as someone, who is interested in wc books, which doesnt spend their first 40 pages with wc materials, keys for a good composition and other story issues and etc.. this book has at least an intermediate level.

I love the book. I've found it in the library and checked it out many times. The book gives amazing feeling of light and shadows, shows many examples, consists of many helpful tips and schemes. Finally, I decided I want to have the book of my own...

This book turned out not to be as helpful as I had hoped; most information I had encountered in a number of other, better books. More inspiring is NO MORE WISHY WASHY WATERCOLOR by Margaret Martin or the new WATERMEDIA WITH STEPHEN QUILLER. The first deals only with transparent watercolor and the second includes gouache, casein, and acrylics. The attitude of both authors is dynamic and this is conveyed to the reader thru their enthusiasm for their art.

Ultimately one can learn only a few things from the advice given in "how-to-paint" books, and this is a typical example. The text in this book is encouraging and somewhat helpful, but the images are the heart and soul of it. There are many examples of stunning dark and light paintings, but they are examples, not solutions to one's own painting needs. One must come up with those oneself. I would recommend this book to watercolorists who want to see the effects of the juxtaposition of shade and light and to read text that explains the specific aspects of them. But don't expect answers to the dilemma of presenting one's own view. Those have to come from within.